Vacation kickoff...the Saturday before departure I had to go to Mohegan Sun
to pick up some show tickets (free) for my in laws, got there 45 minutes
before the box office opened so sat at the bar and played a hundred bucks
through
the dollar 9/6 JorB there - dealt four to a royal in the first ten minutes
and draw the queen of hearts to complete the royal - nice start to the
vacation!
At last it's time for the big event...I've promised my nephews and niece
that for their 21st birthday, Auntie will spring for a trip to Vegas.
Weston was
21 on Jan. 6 and so he is the first to take advantage of the offer. His
Aunt
Jill is also joining us and they are flying in from FL.
Air was a bargain....I had two Rapid Reward tickets so Weston and I fly for
free. Flights were fine; only lesson learned is that I don't think I'll
ever
fly out of Vegas on a Monday morning - McCarran was a zoo - much worse than
our usual choices of Tuesday or Thursday.
Car rental from Dollar again and they are still in the same location.
Barbara, the person who was working the little tent area told me that the
latest
info they have about the new garage system is that it's going to be some
time
in March. I was telling her how much I hated that system when I was in
Phoenix
and she said they're not looking forward to it.
The Florida contingent arrived at Caesars about six hours before I was due
in and they obviously managed to entertain themselves - when I got there,
Weston was waving a ticket for $357 that he won on Double Double Bonus, hit
four
Aces and cashed out - heard him telling his brother later how "easy" it
was<ggg>. Don't worry, he was disabused of the "easy" notion as the
vacation
progressed.
Our room was in the Augustus Tower with a nice view of the Bellagio
fountains; as soon as we checked in Weston put his ticket in the safe with
the
intention of saving it for bringing some money home....worked well for him,
he left
it alone and cashed out the last day. They're impressed about the room,
especially the bathroom....Weston is going to college and the bathroom at
Caesars
is bigger than his bedroom!
Everyone is hungry so off to the Augustus Cafe for dinner. It's about 7:30
pm and the place is almost deserted but service is still excruciatingly
slow -
I don't know what it is with this place. Weston ordered a steak and was
very
happy with; don't remember what we had, but obviously nothing could have
been too bad or I would have noted it.
Jill and Weston go off to play some quarter VP and I head to the only
remaining 9/6 JorB in the Palace casino. I was up and down for a couple of
hours
with nothing great to report, but the man sitting next to me hit a $4,000
royal
so there was some action there. While he was waiting to get paid he said he
really needed that as he had been playing blackjack for several hours and
it
was the worst session he had in thirty-five years. Found myself getting
tired
and making mistakes, so off to bed for me by 11 PM. Rest of troupe follows
in about a half hour, got their butts kicked in the second session. I was
really surprised about how empty everything seems to be.
1/18/2007
I'm up by 6 AM and head downstairs - morning is my favorite time to play,
quiet, minimum of smoke and no problem finding the machine you want. Played
for
a couple of hours; again nothing exciting with the usual ups and downs.
When they come downstairs we head to Sam's Town for breakfast - Weston is a
steak guy and wants to try the steak and eggs breakfast before we head to
Hoover Dam. Playing is much better here - we all leave up and everyone is
very
happy.
Weston didn't care about doing the tour at the dam, but was interested in
driving over it - traffic wasn't bad there so we were able to turn around
at
the Arizona side parking lot and take our time coming back. On the way
back,
dropped in to Casino Monte Lago and we all had fun and made a few bucks
here.
We needed to be back to Caesars between 4 and 6 for a leather jacket
giveaway
that I had received an offer for. Of course, this was part of the "Weston
birthday package"....jacket looked nice, but the quality was not too great
- one
of the pockets was not stitched completely and started tearing the first
time he wore it. I was going to bring it back, but Weston doesn't share the
same
thought process I do...he just kept saying "it's free and Mom can fix
it"<g>.
Tonight we're heading to The Venetian for The Blue Man group. Dined at the
Grand Luxe, we have never had a bad meal here - Weston had planked salmon
that
he raved about, I had pan roast chicken in the usual ridiculous portions -
good, but what a waste of food! Can't remember Jill's choice, but she's
vegetarian and there were ample selections for her. Rolled out of there
stuffed to
the gills and headed for the theater. We had superb seats -- Orchestra
Section two, Row M, seats 31, 32, and 33 dead center of the stage. I have
never
been to Blue Man and found it to be one of the most entertaining and fun
shows
I've been to...three generations and we were all blown away! Found myself
shouting and flailing the arms around like all of the others. After the
show Jill
took a picture of me with one of the Blue Men - Weston and Jill didn't want
to play that game<g>. Played for awhile on the car carousel - twenty bucks
lasted a long time with a lot of bonus spins....Weston was really hoping
that
he would be able to replace his aging car with the hot BMW, but it was not
to
be. Used valet park at the Venetian....let me tell you, that was a first
and
last here! Next trip we'll use valet at TI and just walk across the
overpass.
Waiting for the car took about 15 minutes and it wasn't even crowded - they
just have a really crappy system. While we were waiting we saw an Elvis
impersonator getting into his Escalade and a Michael Jackson impersonator
waiting
for his car.
Back to Caesars and an hour or two of mildly profitable play before bed.
1/19/2007
My usual trip down to the casino early in the morning - I love having
cappuccino at my favorite machine. The kids show up a couple of hours
later....they
said sleeping late in Vegas is bankroll management for them<g>. Today we
have breakfast at Augustus Cafe, they seem to move a little faster at
breakfast
time. We then head out for Red Rock Canyon where we take lots of pictures
(Weston's first trip out west), Weston takes a mile and a half hike and
finds
they really mean it when they tell you that you should carry water with
you,
even if it's not hot! See a cute little wild burro that we take a picture
of,
unfortunately, he's not facing us, but it's still cute.
Stop at Red Rock Resort for a couple of hours play and to hydrate
Weston<g>.
Although none of us walk out winners we all agree this is a beautiful
property - I'm definitely hoping I get an offer from them - the Strip is
getting
crazy and the paytables are horrible...I think it's time to move from my
beloved Caesars
Stop at the Diamond Lounge at Caesars for a pre-dinner cocktail and Philip
is working tonight - he is just so sweet - one of the reasons that the
Diamond
Lounge there is special. We exchange hugs and updates on the holidays; he
said he's gotten a promotion and I'm so happy to see that kind of service
rewarded.
Dinner tonight is at the Empress Court - Weston was interested in the
tasting menu so he and I opt for that; Jill has some tofu entree. An
excellent meal
and I love the ambiance here - it is just so peaceful and away from the
casino.
After dinner Weston heads off for one of the live poker tourneys at Caesars
- it started at 11 PM and he lasted until some time after 1 AM. He wound up
finishing about 15th of a group of 180 and said if he hadn't had as many
Buds
and wasn't so tired, he might have lasted longer. He really enjoyed it and
said next time he would like to play in a game that was earlier in the day
(notice, he's saying next time<g>).
1/20/2007
This morning I'm off to meet my friends from Henderson for breakfast at
Sam's Town. We have a football pool - no cash involved - just bragging
rights for
the season and I won this year. They brought the football trophy and Dave
took pictures of the "award ceremony"<g>. I intended to take it with me so
Peggie wouldn't have to ship it, but I knew it wouldn't fit in my suitcase.
Had a
nice visit and got caught up on the news with everyone. On my way out,
stopped at the Silver Strike machine and deposited ten bucks - won three
silver
strikes so hubby will be happy with these.
Get back to Caesars at 10 AM and valet is jumping, valet parking only for 7
Stars and Diamond. They were telling me at valet they expect to be sold out
tonight. Today Weston is meeting a friend of his for lunch, so Jill and I
do
brunch at the Diamond Lounge and play some of the "fun" machines with
bonuses.
We're supposed to be having dinner tonight at Mesa but when we show up we
find out that the reservations agent made the ressie for the night
before...we
rebook for the next night. Tonight my host is walking Weston into Pure so
we
pretty much just hang out at Caesars for most of the evening. Saturday
night
is always my early night in Vegas - hate the crowds, smoke, etc. so I head
up
to the room around 10:30. Weston comes in around 2 or so and gave us his
little report on Pure - said it was unbelievably crowded, but he was
excited
because the dj's were from "Jackass"....a show I've never seen and have no
intention of ever seeing! He said Bud was $9 a bottle there and they were
the
smaller bottles...I was relating that to hubby the next morning and he said
"well, he was crazy to pay that price" and I corrected him with "no, we paid
that
price, I gave him the room card to charge it"<g>.
1/21/2007
Our last day so we now have to cram in everything that we missed! We head
to
Paris for brunch, a choice that made everyone very happy....I like their
breakfast and brunch items very much, although I'm not crazy about dinner
here.
Weston walks back to Caesars to watch both games and Jill and I go to the
outlets for a little shopping. After that she and I head to Wynn for a
couple of
hours - of course, both of us just love this place. On the way out I stop
at
the sports book to see what the score is in the New England game and I'm
smiling because it's 21-6. Get back to Caesars and it's 21-21....what
happened
in half an hour! Meet up with Weston and we watch the last quarter of the
game
in the Diamond Lounge; he's a Colts fan because of Tony Dungy and I'm an
avid New England fan - of course we were cheering and applauding at
different
times. I'm devastated by the loss and Weston wants to know if he should
clear
out before I have a tantrum<g>.
Meet up with Jill and head to Mesa, this time our reservations are in the
system. First time here and I really liked it, although I know that most of
my
friends would not care for it - nice warm spice undertones to all the food.
The shrimp and corn tamale was absolutely outstanding! Weston had a steak
with
some type of chile rub and he said it was very good but warmer than he
thought it would be. Jill's chile rellenos was a beautiful presentation and
she
seemed to like her margarita, too<g>. Play for a little while after this
and
then it's time to go upstairs and pack. We've all gotten the denim shirt
giveaway that was the Caesars promo this trip and they've all been
earmarked for
souvenirs.
Jill was lucky enough to win $100 in comps in the new game that Caesars is
running so she did her shopping the last day and got a lot of cute things
as
gifts. Everyone is busy trying to cram the extra stuff into suitcases that
were pretty full to start with
1/22/2007
Out at valet park by 8 AM, Jill and Weston opt to come with me as their
flight is only an hour and a half after mine. The airport is a zoo and it
takes
me 25 minutes just to get through security. I always allow two hours for
McCarran and I get to my gate about 50 minutes before departure. Plane is
packed
on way out, unlike the flight in. Get into BDL and it's lightly snowing,
one
of the few times this year that we've seen snow. Roads are clear, though,
and
it's no problem getting home.
Summary - A fun and different trip for me - it's always fun going with
someone who has never been to Vegas before and I definitely spent less time
gambling than I usually do because we were running around sightseeing. I
guess I
should be happy about that, because there was little impact on the gambling
bankroll - a few wins, a few losses, but nothing substantial either way.
Weston
managed to come home with enough to buy parts for a new computer tower, so
I
think it was a gambling success for him. He loved Vegas and what a great
place to celebrate a milestone birthday. My host caught up with me the day
before
I left to tell me what a polite and refreshing young man Weston was, so I
was pleased to hear that! I'm sure she works with some pretty obnoxious
demanding types.
I'm sad because I've read that Caesars has now further decimated their VP
inventory - the last bank of 8 9/6 $1 JorB have reportedly been reduced to
two.
Apparently this change took place the day after I left - I'm beginning to
think I'm the kiss of death for VP at Caesars - the last bloodbath was the
day
before I arrived in November. I'm actually evaluating whether the trip to
Vegas is even worth it anymore - the local casino, Mohegan Sun, currently
has
9/6 $1 JorB, quarter 8/5 bonus poker, and quarter and $1 full pay Pick Em.
There's no cashback, but I get plenty of mailers for promos for points,
gifts,
etc. We're not sure when the next trip will be, but I know I'll definitely
be
going back when the next kid turns 21 in two years<g>, he's already
planning
what he wants to do!
Sandy
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